The Personal Brand

A few seasons ago on Top Model, Tyra introduced the girls to the concept of personal branding. I hated this idea. I think I even blogged about how much I hated the idea (after almost 550 posts, it's hard to keep track). The idea that our society has become so narrow that we judge people on how they are branded as opposed to who they truly are is horrible.

And yet . . . and yet . . . face it; it's true. We are in a culture of soundbites. We access people in about three words. Loud Political Jackass. Self-Serving Widow. Wannabe Rock Star. None of those are pleasant, but not all branding is bad. Sometimes those three words we give people are awesome. Funny Poet Chick. Brave Artistic Mom. Adorable Cat Lover.

Perhaps that last one is a mixed bag? But I digress.

Of late, Facebook people have been posting a lot of pics about how 'You don't know me so don't judge me' or 'You shouldn't believe what people who hate me say.' You know, that kind of thing. And it is true. Most of these people do NOT know you.

What they DO know and what they base their opinions on is what you post, what you write, what you tweet, how you act, and what you project about yourself. And yes, they may also know you from other people's words, but, really, that matters very little in contrast to what you can do yourself.

In the same way that you are responsible for your own safety, you are also responsible for your own brand. And let me be clear on this. Your responsibility in both cases begins at the fact that you can choose to NOT be in charge of this, leave it to others, and accept the outcome . . . or you can take an active role, work on it yourself, and do a lot to control the outcome.

Try this.

1. Ask yourself a simple question.  When other people look at me, what three words do I want to pop into their heads? Think about that for a while and consider the pros and cons of each choice.
   
2. Now that you have your three words, start considering people you know who are good examples of these words. Write down the qualities these people possess that you connect with your labels.
   
3. Once you have your list of qualities, begin to connect them to aspects of your life. This is a little bit tricky and it is the place where people can really go wrong with branding. You have to be genuine here. You can't brand yourself with something you don't have. But there are ways to work around it. For instance, if you admire a singer because of her talent and you can't sing, think about another way in which one of your qualities is SIMILAR to singing. Can you dance? Knit? Write? Take whatever your personal talent is and begin to work on it in the way that this singer works on her talent.
   
4. Project your brand to others. When you use social media, use it in a way that doesn't contrast with your brand. If your brand includes 'environmental,' don't take pictures of yourself littering. If your brand includes 'mature family man,' don't post pictures of half naked girls who are half your age. Remember: You are trying to present a certain image of yourself. Don't undermine this image.
   
5. Keep in mind that this is shallow, but don't let that frustrate you. Branding isn't going to make people fall in love with you. It isn't going to get you best friends for life. It may, however, get you a job. It may get the attention of someone who might become more deeply interested in you down the line. It may prevent people from believing rumors about you. This isn't about the engine of the car, this is about having a strong paint job.

Like I said, I am still rather resentful of the fact that we have to do this. It would be nice to live in a world where no one judged books by covers and everyone just delighted in finding out the true depth of others.  That isn't the society we live in though and if we waste our time complaining about that, we'll have less time to adapt.  Branding may be annoying, but it is something you can take charge of and control in your life. It's something you can work on and hone into an image that works well for you. In short, it is a tool for you to use. It's always good to have many tools.